My husband and I have 4 kids, 1 of whom joined us in 2010 in Ethiopia. We're currently in process to bring home our son from China. We all live imperfect lives in Texas, where we carefully maintain a balance between harmony and chaos. My interests also include chickens, Ebay, politics, thrift stores, building, and old books, not necessarily in that order.

Friday, August 19, 2016

A good, good Friday

Woo hoo. I had a very dramatic race-to-the-end of business Friday victory today and walked out of my doctor's office just before closing with all my completed forms. It started this morning with some back and forth calls trying to find out if test results were in. The results were in, but they were still waiting on the fax (do people still do that?). It was mostly me calling, and them politely telling me they would call me back. Finally, I went there forty minutes before closing, "I just happened to be in the area...". What a happy surprise, the doctor had everything ready to go. Test results were negative. The notary had her book out and was stamping my papers. Oh, the joys of small victories. At the end, the notary/office manager turned to me and said, "Okay that's $35 each for the forms fee and $15 each for the notary fee." Huh. At that point, I didn't really care. I had my required forms. Frankly, leaving the doctor $100 lighter is becoming a little too normal. So, I still love my doctor, but I don't really want to see her again for a long time. All required homestudy forms are in. Now I just need my social worker to type it up. Sadly she is not nearly as motivated as me. She actually has other families to write reports for! ;) I hope to be able to see the rough draft in a week or so. I guess we'll see if that's realistic or not... Repeat after me: All in God's timing, All in God's timing...

Child #5 Timeline

11/2015 - Apply to Holt, get home study packet11/2015-7/2016 - think maybe we are done7/17/16 - See his photo on agency email and realize we're not7/18/16 - Review his file7/19/16 - Say Yes, send in home study packet7/22/16 - HS packet goes to social worker7/25/16 - Review committee officially matches us (pending HS)7/26-8/19/16 - Flurry of paperwork, doctor's visit, back to back social worker's visits and background checks8/22/16 - LOI is uploaded8/23/16 - All paperwork and background checks are in, social worker is writing HS8/24/16 - Pre Approved by CCCWA!8/26/16 - HS off to Holt for approval9/7/16 - HS back from Holt to local agency with minor revisions9/12/16 - HS comes in the mail9/13/16 - Send I800A application in9/20/16 - Trip to the capitol to get the last of my docs state certified9/30/16 - Received fingerprint notice10/3/16 - Walked in for fingerprints10/11/16 - Picked up most docs from Consulate10/12/16 - I800A approved!10/19/16 - Approval arrives in mail, get it notarized10/20/16 - Get it certified and dropped off at Consulate10/25/16 - Picked up and then FedEx-ed to agency10/28/16 - DTC! (Dossier to China)11/2/16 - LID (Logged In Date)12/1/16 - moved to "In Review"12/22/16 - moved to "Matched"12/23/16 - LOA!!!!12/29/16 - signed hard copy LOA, sent in I80012/30/16 - I800 Lockbox1/13/17 - Text confirmation1/23/17 - I800 Approval1/30/17 - GUZ number1/31/17 - RTF cable2/21/17 - Article 5 Pickup